Maintaining accurate and up to date sales and goods movement data is important for the success of any business. Movement data can be used to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the business. For example, movement data may be used to identify particularly well selling items, such that additional quantities of that item may be reordered, the strong sales may be capitalized upon, etc. Further, the movement data may be analyzed to recognize market trends, viability of product lines, productivity of various businesses, etc. Similarly, movement data may be used to identify the volume of returns for any item, spoilage of goods, etc. Tracking goods movement allows a business to identify potentially inferior products, predict shelf life, etc.
Generally, sales and goods movement data may be tracked using a point-of-sale (POS) system. POS systems are systems generally located in stores or other locations where the sale takes place. POS systems may have varying degrees of sophistication with respect to both the amounts and types of sales and movement data they are capable of tracking. For example, a POS system may be a simple cash register system configured to track only the amount of money received. Alternatively, the cash register system may be a sophisticated computing system configured to track as much data as possible for every transaction. Exemplary data which may be tracked by POS systems include inventory effect data, customer information, payment data, date describing additional items purchased in the same transaction, returned items, damaged items, etc.
Although POS systems such as described above may be standalone systems, such systems are often communicatively coupled (e.g., via a LAN or WAN, a dial-up connection, the interne, etc.) to enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, which are also known as transactional data processing systems, merchandizing systems, operational systems, etc. In these situations, the data generated by the POS systems (e.g., cash registers) may be transferred to the ERP systems on a receipt level basis and/or aggregate basis in either batch mode (e.g., at the end of a day or cycle) or in substantially real time as each transaction occurs.
In addition to ERP systems, POS systems are also frequently communicatively coupled to business warehouse (BW) systems, which are also known as data warehouses. In these situations, the POS systems are typically coupled to the BW systems through the ERP systems. Thus, the receipt level and/or aggregate sales data generated by the POS systems typically must pass through the ERP system to reach the BW system. Once in the BW system, the advanced reporting and analysis functions typically available in such systems can be used to perform assortment planning, marketing, and other strategic and operational planning decisions based on the received POS data.
In many cases, a large portion of the sales and movement data generated by the POS systems and transferred through the ERP system to the BW system for strategic analysis and long term storage is not even utilized in the ERP system. Because such POS data can be rather voluminous, this configuration may place an unnecessary burden on the ERP system. Moreover, for some businesses (e.g., franchise operations) there may be no operational data going into an ERP system that can be fed to the BW system for strategic analysis and planning. For example, independently owned and operated service stations typically sell gasoline that is owned and handled by the franchise, while the convenience items (e.g., snacks, beverages, cigarettes) may be owned and handled by the service station owner. In these situations, the franchise will likely not have an ERP system that is tracking the convenience items because they are not responsible for their day to day operation (e.g., ordering, restocking, etc). Even so, the franchise may be interested in the sales data generated by the POS system for the convenience items to allow for cross-promotion opportunities or for other strategic reasons (e.g., assessing the financial strength and cash flow of the franchisee). In these situations, the BW system owned by the franchise cannot be coupled to an ERP system to receive the sales and movement data generated by the POS systems. Additional potential problems that may arise from relying on the ERP system for access to the POS system data include the potential for additional time delays in receiving the data as well as the additional costs of installing and maintaining an ERP system which, as noted above in the franchise example, may not be required.
To maximize sales and minimize inventory, businesses may need to react quickly (e.g., within days or even hours) to changes in consumer behavior and customer demand for convenience, choice, and value. Businesses may desire to receive the data necessary to detect and understand such changes even when they do not directly relate to products of the businesses. Accordingly, there is a need for a data processing system and method configured to facilitate the transfer of data from one or more POS systems to a BW system where the data can be analyzed and reported. There is further need for such a system and method configured to facilitate processing and error handling for the POS data.